1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a computer-aided design method, and more particularly, to designing concept sketches, such as for automobile profiles, using a genetic algorithm.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional design process which involves a “proof of concept” have been accomplished with drawings and subsequent refinements done by hand or with computer assistance. A designer creates concept sketches or profiles, such as for a new automobile, by hand or with a suitable CAD/CAM program. The process may take up to one or two months, or longer, to create acceptable concepts. An average designer may create about twelve sketches a day. Renderings in one-fifth scale may be achieved in less than two days.
Such conventional techniques are time consuming and tedious. In addition, traditional CAD/CAM programs are, for the most part, enhanced drawing tools which merely reflect the designer's creativity but do not generate creative contributions. The conventional approach does not dramatically reduce the cycle time to generate acceptable proofs of concept, such as for a new automobile.
Genetic algorithms have been used in the art to transform an initial population of objects into new populations based on theories of natural selection and survival of the fittest. Starting with an initial population of objects, such genetic algorithms evaluate the objects in the population for fitness with respect to the problem environment and perform genetic operations on various objects in the population to produce a new population. Some basic genetic operations include fitness proportionate reproduction and crossover. Fitness proportionate reproduction reproduces or copies an object from the initial population into the new population based on a probability of fitness for that object in the problem environment. Crossover creates new offspring for the new population by combining relevant parts of two parents. Other genetic operations include mutations or architecture-altering operations.
A detailed discussion of genetic algorithms and genetic operations can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,935,877; 5,136,686; 5,148,513; 5,343,554; 5,742,738; and the references cited therein. These references show how such genetic algorithms have been specifically tailored for problem solving applications. Genetic algorithms have also been specifically tailored for application in automated design of electrical circuits (see, U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,397) and for application in sound generation (see JP 11-175072). However, the conventional art has not heretofore addressed the problem domain of a design process for concept sketches, such as for new automobiles, for application of a genetic algorithm therein.